Haiku

These are some of my favourite Haikus by Basho -They are so simple that they are beautiful.....tabi ni yande / yume wa kareno wo / kake meguruSick on my journey,only my dreams will wanderthese desolate moorsKono michi ya / yuku hito nashini / aki no kureAll along this roadnot a single soul – onlyautumn evening comesWon't you comeand see loneliness?Just one leaf on the kiri treeTemple bells die outthe fragrant blossoms remainA perfect evening!Miru tokoro hana ni arazu to iu koto nashi,omou tokoro tsuki ni arazu to iu koto nashiThere is nothing you can see that is not a flower;There is nothing you can think that is not the m...

Black and White !

Unlike India Lunch hour in Japan is fixed – 12 – 1p.m.So at 12 sharp the Japanese `salarymen`(and women !) come out of their offices in droves all dressed alike in black suits and white shirts reminding me very irresistibly of crows !Lack of color is what I hate about Japan .. Oh the country is color full enough ...pink and white sakura in march; bright orange autumn leaves in November. Then they have mastered the art of serving their food in the most colorful and artistic manner so u almost feel guilty about eating and spoiling the whole effect!What I mean is their dress code at work ... formal white shirts and black trousers and jacket day...

More hellos and Less good Byes

Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 - Charlie Brown (Peanuts)My family and friends are scattered in different parts of the world, living in three different time zones and leading totally diverse lives.And yet we sometimes feel a irresistible need to connect and to talk.With my friends its whats up with you messages on orkut and long emails written once a week that talk about nothing and everything...

Of Earthquakes and Typhoons !

A few days back I was jolted awake in the middle of the night by a earthquake ....the room was swaying and the side ways motion felt as if I am sitting in a train ..it passed after a few moments and I drifted back to sleep when at ard 1.45 there was another one ..this time a big one ..Everything swayed and swayed for ever so long ..I kept waiting for it to finish and when it didnt kept getting increasingly alarmed.....The lamp was swaying making crazy patterns on the walls, and water was sloshing out of a filled pan in the kitchen ..it was so eerily quiet that the sound of things bumping against each other and the water sloshing was unnaturally...

The Simple Pleasures of Life ...

We have a week long holiday in Japan .. What the Japanese so fondly call the Golden Week .. The trains are empty .. no morning rush hours, no people scurrying to and fro between stationsFor me this is the time to sit back and relax, to think and contemplate, to sit by my window and read as the sun streams in making tiger stripes on the wooden floor, to listen to my favourite music or have a cup of masala chai as I watch the rain fall gently on my window frame ….to take long walks and rejoice in finding a patch of wild flowers or birds chirping in this concrete jungle that is Tokyo ..Ahh .. the simple pleasures of life...

To mourn for things that could have been ......

I used to write when I was in school .. stories, poems or just jot down the　random ramblings of　my mind. I was told I write well ..that I should cultivate this skill ... One of my dreams was to become a writer and live up in the mountains ..Ruskin bond style .. but then I got carried away in the pursuit of professional and materialistic happiness and my writing lay forgotten like a dusty child hood book, treasured but rarely read ..I used to tell myself that someday I will start writing again.....may be this weekend..may be after this deadline is over ..And now today as I finally sit before the computer I find that I have lost the ability to...